On Modesty

  The On Modesty series explores the intimacy and vulnerability of male body image in a triptych portrait process

The three sections "disgust." "shame," and "modesty" look at the taboos of male nudity from an intimate level to evoke discussion of self-image, toxic masculinity, misogyny, and hypocrisy, questioning what we consider to be moral and ethical concerning the representation of the unclothed male body. We all deserve to feel comfortable in our own skin, and to be celebrated in our nakedness at every stage of life.

In spring of 2022 I was researching photography styles hoping to emulate a mid-century style for a shoot I was planning of my own creations. I came across these beautiful images of Mark Shaw's, a famous fashion photographer of the time (among other notable career paths, he was also the Kennedy's photographer).

A beautiful woman modeling lingerie. Her breasts are visible through the sheer silk fabric, and she poses seductively throughout. The entire collection has her face hidden in some way. This made me wonder about modesty, as this was the intention of covering the face - maybe to keep the mid-century woman under a patriarchal gaze. The suggestion of shame in sexuality seemed to be a consequence of this photo shoot as well. I was thinking about modesty and how I learned this topic in my predominantly Mormon family. It brought up unintended feelings of shame and disgust in measurable ways throughout my life.

I felt that modesty taught me first and foremost, to judge women's worth and character by what they were wearing, or not wearing. I also learned that the body (sexualized or not) was something to be disgusted by, to be ashamed of. I didn't know why my body was suddenly disgusting, or repulsive, but I knew that it should be hidden away and that sexuality was off limits because sexuality made the body even more repulsive, and strange. With sexuality comes body changes and urges, and we were not meant to give these thoughts any attention until a certain point in life.

As children we originally experienced nudity without moral dispute. It was always acceptable, never bad. We didn't avoid being naked, or avoid conversation of it. Indeed, we were encouraged to be naked and were celebrated in our nakedness and vulnerability.

At some point however (typically around puberty), we experience a drastic change when we suddenly learn that our bodies are no longer just beautiful, but something that must be hidden at all times - something hyper-sexualized, and also disgusting in many instances.

Our vulnerability became something with a negative connotation. This new contradiction of sexualizing our adolescent bodies, and implying nakedness a bad thing can be destructive to the way we develop in our self-awareness. We learned we have a body which no longer possessed virtuous qualities, but one that needs to be cleansed, fixed, covered, shamed, protected. In their study, "On the Origin of Shame" John Terrizzi Jr, and Natalie J. Shook mention early on - "Indeed, shame and disgust share several important similarities. Both emotions involve bodily concern, are described as moral emotions, and encourage avoidance of social interaction." We are taught that nakedness is morally improper and our bodies are quite suddenly seen completely different socially, which effects our psyche in so many irreparable ways. Shame is one effect of this sudden disgust we feel for ourselves. Modesty is a way we as a cohesive society have decided to hide that shame.